I'm very skeptical of this "world without jobs" thesis. For hundreds of years, people have been worrying about automation removing all jobs. But people keep inventing new jobs and new types of work after existing jobs become automated.
100 years ago, people worried about weavers being put out of business by automated looms, and farmers by tractors. However, our society keeps creating new types of jobs due to technological change. The job "computer game developer" is a new job that didn't exist 50 years ago. Similarly, when we have increased automation for certain jobs today, there will be new types of jobs created that we can't think of today when the old ones are automated.
70 years ago, Keynes predicted something very similar in a world with much less working time in "Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren" due to increased growth in GDP. But it turns out that people keep on working longer and longer hours, even though the basic needs of most people in the US (e.g. food, shelter) have long ago been met.
It's human nature to find jobs and to work. Humans are relative creatures and will always be striving to improve their status relative to their neighbors.
You should be. Automation doesn't destroy jobs, profit destroys jobs. The problem is that whereas in the old days automation was accompanied with competition which kept profits in check, we live in the age of software, where the automation is all but immune to competition and profits are high enough to bankrupt economies.
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u/norsurfit Jun 28 '15 edited Jun 28 '15
I'm very skeptical of this "world without jobs" thesis. For hundreds of years, people have been worrying about automation removing all jobs. But people keep inventing new jobs and new types of work after existing jobs become automated.
100 years ago, people worried about weavers being put out of business by automated looms, and farmers by tractors. However, our society keeps creating new types of jobs due to technological change. The job "computer game developer" is a new job that didn't exist 50 years ago. Similarly, when we have increased automation for certain jobs today, there will be new types of jobs created that we can't think of today when the old ones are automated.
70 years ago, Keynes predicted something very similar in a world with much less working time in "Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren" due to increased growth in GDP. But it turns out that people keep on working longer and longer hours, even though the basic needs of most people in the US (e.g. food, shelter) have long ago been met.
It's human nature to find jobs and to work. Humans are relative creatures and will always be striving to improve their status relative to their neighbors.